Say hello to mObi, a metre-tall retail-friendly robot that, if developer Bossa Nova Robotics has its way, will be hovering up and down supermarket aisles the world over, checking stock, guiding disoriented punters to the baked beans, and reducing even further the number of employment opportunities open to surly Gen Y-ers.
Bossa …

Re: Is it hoodie proof?

* The shoppers who merrily abandon their trollies in the middle of the aisles in everyones way whilst they wander off to select the items they want from the other end of the row.

* The cages of new stock left by staff in the busiest of the aisles just to get in everyones way.

* The business type who just popped in for a few things, but hasn't the time to wrench the mobile away from his ear and so is trying to pick things off the shelf with the same hand that's holding their overflowing basket.

If it can please let me know the secret, 'cos I'm damn sure I can't deal with them most days.

Re: Is it hoodie proof?

Re: Is it hoodie proof?

If it's going to have "Kinect’s gesture recognition" to track "finger movements", I'll be flicking it the Vs at the earliest opportunity. Maybe they can programme it to scurry away in terror if you roar at it?

cunning plan

Every Little Helps

If this thing's going to have any chance of replacing the staff in my local Tesco's, they're going to have be sold in pairs and programmed to spend 90% of their time locked in a secure communication protocol with each other, heavily firewalled to prevent any disruption to their comms, such as a hostile "excuse me, can you tell me where the beans are?" attack

You would have thought so, but my local Tescos are useless, no stock of what people want on the selves (always empty almost all the time) and never putting less of what people don't want on the selves to make room for the stuff that flies off.

I assume the stock management software tells them what is going on and the staff actively ignore it. Been like it for years. Or perhaps they just eyeball everything.

Sex Panther

Re: Sex Panther

I spent a week stacking shelves at a Tesco. They just get deliveries in and put stuff on shelves. Whatever comes into stock goes on the shelves. There is certainly no intelligence behind stocking the shelves.

act as Security Guards as well...

You would have thought

You'd have thought they would have a refined to perfection logistics system by now. I cant speak for the stores but the warehouse I work in is held together with chewing gum and string the only nod to modernism is replacing the old green screen terminals with PC's running terminal emulation.

Nothing in the place is ever repaired if you can make do without and there is no post install support for anything that runs on electric so most of it just dies and get chucked in the corner, which is where these would end up despite being rather impressive.

These are the sort of company's who think a 5 year old lithium-ion cell that has been in 24 hour use is still going to be able to run a mobile terminal and not go from full to flat in an hour.

Why the fiddly, and processor intensive, ball and gyros to stay upright? Surely the wheel is now perfected technology - and out of patent... Otherwise they should have used a pogo-stick, or an air-cushion and had it hover properly...

I suppose it's too much to ask for that they use SpaceX's latest technology, the Grasshopper rocket. It would be fun to have a mini rocket bouncing round your supermarket, and it could get to those empty shelves super-quick. But people always laugh at me when I suggest indoor rocketry as the solution to any problem. I can't imagine why...

Why the fiddly, and processor intensive, ball and gyros to stay upright?

Small footprint means it gets in the way less and can navigate between obstacles more easily. Also, I rather suspect that it'll be easier to keep upright (or even self-right) than a very tall robot on a small wheeled base.

Wonky wheel?

"I rather suspect that it'll be easier to keep upright (or even self-right) than a very tall robot on a small wheeled base."

Actually it's best to have the center of gravity as high as possible for balancing as it makes it easier to move the support under center and the added length means the moment of inertia is working in favor of not tipping. You can demonstrate this yourself by trying to balance different length sticks on your finger. A short pencil is particularly hard to balance but a long broomstick is considerably easier. Likewise, if you have a single stick with a weight that can be moved from top to bottom you can notice that it does get easier as the weight is moved up the stick.

Scene in the aisles of the future Tesco supermarket after a long day's work

Tired consumer. Approached by hovering robot.

Hovering robot: "Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir?"

Tired consumer: "No thanks"

Hovering robot, insisting: "Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir?"

Tired consumer, very annoyed: "I SAID NO!"

Hovering robot, continuing nevertheless: "Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir?"

Tired consumer, at wits' end: "NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Hovering robot, completely ignoring consumer: "Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir? Do you need any help, Sir?"

Tired consumer, surrenders to the inevitable: "OK! You win! I need help. Tell me what to do, I'll buy whatever you say."

Re: The robot runs on a single, six-inch ball;

"[...] and remove the fluff with a toothpick every couple of weeks?"

The real problem with the old mouse balls was that they acquired a felt pad made up of hair, dust, and sticky deposits. This made the ball only rotate in the direction of the accretion. In any other direction the ball stopped turning.

Quality control

RFID

If the stock ever gets RFID tags then the robot just has to cruise the aisles interrogating the tags for type and quantity. However - unless the local shoplifters are prolific - that information should all be available from the POS totals.

Re: RFID

If everything had RFID tags then there'd be no need at all for a mobile robot. The 'readers' are built right in the racks. That's how many large warehouses do it now, including Wal-Mart in the backroom but not on the shelves as the tags are too expensive for the manufacturers to put on every item. The tags are relegated to whole pallets or boxes with many small products inside, mostly.

This is a BOFH story waiting to happen

I know the BOFH has been involved in robot challenges before, but mostly on his own turf. What are the possibilities for a robot ambush (and counter-insurgency) campaign at the local supermarket... Or perhaps a few amendments to the stock management and delivery system.

Presumably with the right access to the control system, there's no reason why these little chaps should consider themselves limited to the supermarket aisles. I'm mean, what if a mischievous rascal felt inclined to 'persuade' the robot to follow customers home. I wonder what the effective range is...